Dateline:
COSTA MESA, Calif. & PARAMUS, N.J.

Public Company Information:
NYSE:SYF

COSTA MESA, Calif. & PARAMUS, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CareCredit, a leading provider of patient financing, and Zwivel, an online cosmetic consultation platform that enables cosmetic patients and doctors to interact prior to an in-office consultation, today announced they have signed a marketing agreement. Under the agreement, consumers can apply for a CareCredit health, wellness and beauty credit card through a link embedded in Zwivel’s free, online-consultation platform and app.

Founded in 2012, Zwivel was developed by board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Gary Breslow, when he recognized inefficiencies in the traditional cosmetic consultation process for both patients and physicians. The Zwivel free online consultation streamlines the information-gathering process to securely collect a patient’s procedural inquiries, medical profile and timeframe for scheduling an aesthetic procedure, enabling virtual “mini consults” from the comfort of one’s home. Zwivel has seen rapid adoption by the cosmetic industry and patients seeking information online.

“The purpose of Zwivel is to help consumers research and quickly choose cash-pay cosmetic services and doctors online before an in-office consultation, and the availability of financing options plays an integral role in their decision-making process to move forward with an in-person consultation,” said Scott Kera, chief operating officer, Zwivel.

According to a 2014 CareCredit study^* on how consumers approach their healthcare decisions, consumers took more time researching and visiting providers who perform treatments such as cosmetic procedures before making their final selection. In fact, only 25% of cosmetic patients said they used a provider with which they already had a relationship.

The same study shows that consumers are researching financing at nearly the same rate as the procedure itself. This is especially true in the cosmetic industry, where 92 percent of consumers researched the procedure and 86 percent considered or researched financing.

“Zwivel delivers value to both providers and patients by simplifying the consultation process, and we know from our research the availability of financing options is important to busy consumers,” said Greg Pierce, senior vice president, CareCredit. “We look forward to working with Zwivel to deliver options for their patients and providers.”

About CareCredit

For nearly 30 years, CareCredit, from Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF), has helped millions of patients receive needed and desired care. CareCredit is a health, wellness and beauty credit card that can be used as a promotional financing option at more than 185,000 healthcare practices nationwide. CareCredit is endorsed by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the largest plastic surgery specialty association in the United States, and is a Preferred Provider of the American Academy of Dermatology, the nation’s largest dermatology medical association. For more information on CareCredit, call 800-300-3046 or visit www.carecredit.com.

About Zwivel

Zwivel is transforming the way cosmetic patients search for and connect with cosmetic doctors. Through Zwivel’s easy-to-use, online platform, cosmetic patients can search for and select from multiple cosmetic doctors and start their cosmetic consultation with the selected doctors online from their computer or smartphone, getting opinions and cosmetic procedure recommendations with estimated fees, before committing to a full, in-office consultation. The entire process is completely private and secure, HIPAA-compliant, and one-to-one between each patient and each doctor. Zwivel is free for both cosmetic patients and doctors via Zwivel or the free Zwivel app for iPhone and Android. For more information, visit Zwivel.com.

*The Consumers’ Path to Healthcare Purchases Study was conducted in Q3 2014 by Rothstein Tauber, Inc., on behalf of CareCredit, and included an online survey of nearly 2,000 consumers who had made an elective healthcare purchase in the past 12 months, or who were likely to make an elective healthcare purchase in the next 12 months.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

www.carecredit.com or Facebook.com/CareCredit or Twitter.com/CareCredit

©2015 CareCredit. All rights reserved.

Contact:

CareCredit
Cindy Hearn, 800-300-3046, ext. 4138
Senior Vice President, Branding & Communications
chearn@carecredit.com
or
Communications, 855-791-8007
media.relations@synchronyfinancial.com